The present invention relates generally to surface abrading devices and, more particularly, to an improved air powered, portable and abrading handtool of the type for removing defects from a painted finish.
The presence of dirt, debris and other contaminants in paint during a painting process, in the production of automobiles, is a significant drawback because they are baked into the finish. These surface defects are typically eliminated by utilizing a piece of fine sandpaper which is used manually to buff the surface defects. While conventional buffing indeed removes these defects, it tends to leave fairly large size scuff marks or "white spots", even if the contaminants are only several millimeters in size. In addition, manual buffing is a relatively time consuming process and there is a tendency for the formation of groove marks if it is not done properly. The presence of relatively large "white spots" and the possibility of groove marks leads to additional refinishing costs and time.
A number of handheld abrading tools are known for treating surfaces of various types. Exemplary ones are described generally in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,531,329; 4,622,782; 4,782,632; and 5,031,364. However, none of these known devices would satisfactorily serve to remove surface defects caused by surface contaminants baked into a painted finish on an automobile, much less do so in a manner which minimizes user effort and subsequent refinishing steps and costs. Accordingly, there is desire to improve upon presently known abrading techniques and devices for facilitating the efficient abrading of defects so as minimize the size of the white spots and the occurrence of groove marks.